This portion of The Eternal Jew exhibition held in Munich shows representations of stereotypical "Jewish" facial features. The Jew was characterized by a large hooked nose, enormous lips, and sloping forehead. Such characterizations had been part and parcel of European antisemitism since the Middle Ages, but Nazi Germany gave them the veneer of scientific respectability.Photo: SYddeutscher Verlag Bilderdienst/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive

The Eternal Jew, a degenerate-art exhibition in Munich, opened on November 8, 1937. The largest prewar antisemitic exhibit produced by the Nazis, it depicted Jews as vile, subhuman creatures. The exhibit featured photographs pointing out the typically "Jewish" features of political figures, such as Leon Trotsky, and entertainers, including Charlie Chaplin (who was not a Jew). The display placed heavy emphasis upon supposed efforts of the Jews to bolshevize Germany.Photo: Weiner Library, London/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archive

Martin Niemöller

When the Nazis took power, Martin Niemöller was minister of St. Anne's Lutheran Church in Berlin Dahlem. Like many Christian leaders, he initially welcomed Hitler's rise to power as the opening stage of a national revival. Niemöller was especially sympathetic to the Nazis' anti-Communism, but he soon concluded that Hitler's regime was also anti-Christian.

In 1934 Niemöller founded the Pastors' Emergency League, which became the foundation of the Confessing Church. The church sought to counter the increasing influence of the openly antisemitic and pro-Nazi "Positive German Christians." In May 1934 Niemöller was among the Confessing leaders who drew up the "Barmen Declaration," which reaffirmed the Jewish roots of Christianity and the validity of the Hebrew Bible.

In 1937 Niemöller was arrested and sentenced to seven months in prison and a 2000-Reichsmark fine. Under Hitler's orders, he was rearrested shortly after his release and spent the next eight years in several concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He lived until 1984.

September 7, 1937: Hitler declares the Treaty of Versailles invalid and ended.

October 12, 1937: The SS assumes control of Grafeneck, a crippled-children's institution in Württemberg, Germany, and begins the facility's transformation into a "euthanasia" center.

November 5, 1937: Hitler chairs a secret conference in which he informs the High Command and others of his racial, geopolitical, and military plans to dominate Europe. The conference is recorded by Colonel Friedrich Hossbach and called after him.

November 8, 1937: The German Museum in Munich mounts the Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) exhibition. It links Jews with bolshevism.

November 25, 1937: Germany signs a military agreement with Japan.

1937-1939: Synthetic fat derived from coal is tested on inmates at the Sachsenhausen, Germany, concentration camp.